The U.S. has lifted its ban on Brazilian beef after shutting out the product more than two years ago because of repeated sanitary and health violations, according to USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.
Brazilian Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina celebrated the move on Twitter before USDA officially announced the end to the ban.
“Another good result for our economy,” she said in a tweet Friday. “Recognition of the quality of Brazilian products.”
But the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association was not pleased.
“NCBA strongly supports science-based trade and the Trump Administration’s efforts to enforce science-based trade with all trade partners,” said Kent Bacus, the group’s senior director of international trade and market access. “But to be clear, NCBA has serious concerns about the re-entry of Brazilian beef to the U.S. market.”
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The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service shut down Brazil’s beef exports in June of 2017 after inspectors at U.S. ports found “repeated import violations such as abscesses, ingesta and unidentified foreign material (in) raw intact beef product” from eight Brazilian packing houses.
But food safety is not NCBA’s only concern. Brazil has struggled in the past to control the spread of foot and mouth disease in its herds and NCBA is not convinced the threat is over.
“Should Brazil continue to have food safety or animal health issues, we expect the U.S. government, including Capitol Hill, to take all necessary and immediate action to protect U.S. consumers and U.S. beef producers,” Bacus said.
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